Marriage 'reduces testosterone'
Thursday, 18 Oct 2007 15:43
Marriage reduces testosterone in some Kenyan men
Science In Focus
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Testosterone in a group of males living in Kenya drops once they have married as they no longer need to attract a mate, a study has revealed.
The male hormone usually declines with age, but it is finding a spouse that appears to be the most important factor for males in the Ariaal, subsistence pastoralists living in northern Kenya.
Ariaal men remain single until about the age of 30, when they marry one or more women.
Peter Gray of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and colleagues studied testosterone levels in 205 Ariaal men, according to a report in the New Scientist.
Men with one wife were found to have lower levels than unmarried men, and men with more than one wife had even less testosterone.
The researchers propose that the male hormone levels drop as they no longer need to compete with other males for a wife.
"Testosterone levels are lower among married men probably because they are investing less in mating effort," Dr Gray said.
Once married the Ariaal men have less need for testosterone, he added, as apart from sex, husbands and wives have very little to do with each other, and men are minimally involved in childcare.